Суд над Бхагавад-гитой / Attempt to ban Bhagavad-gita

Reviewing the Preface to Search for Krishna

It is a pitiable state of affairs when a disciple of Srila Prabhupada is driven from his spiritual master's mission and is forced to take shelter elsewhere. We feel for such souls an sympathize with them. But at the same time it should be understood that in some cases it would be better for a Prabhupada disciple to forget spiritual life for the time being, keeping his devotional creeper in a dormant state, rather than go to someone who can actually poison the devotional creeper. This is the case with Sridhar Maharaja. Dheera Krishna, the Western world's mouthpiece for establishing Sridhar Maharaja as being equal to and even superior to Srila Prabhupada, is unscrupulous in his method of converting Prabhupada's disciples over to Sridhar's camp. Here are some examples of his technique.

In the preface to Search for Krishna Dheera makes Prabhupada out to be a new bhakta compared to Sridhar Maharaja. The way he does this is by taking quotes by Srila Prabhupada that praise Sridhar Maharaja, he pieces them all together (no matter how many years apart they were spoken), and then adds and subtracts a few words to make it look like Srila Prabhupada is saying something he's not. Of course he never mentions the circumstances under which statements were made. This technique is exactly like trying to make Jayatirtha out to be a saint by quoting his "vyasapuja" offerings from the other "gurus." They bear no relevance whatsoever to Jayatirtha's actual status.

1. First paragraph: Dheera's version of Prabhupada's words.

"We are very fortunate to hear His Divine Grace, Om Vishnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya Bhakti Raksaka Sridhar Maharaja. By age and by experience, in both ways, he is senior to me. I was fortunate to have his association since a long time, since perhaps 1930. At that time he had not accepted sannyasa, but had just left home. He went to preach in Allahabad, and on that auspicious occasion we were connected."

The actual words:

(First part the same.) "...perhaps since 1930, something like that. At that time he did not accept sannyasa, he just left home, vanaprastha, in his white dress he went to Allahabad. Maharaja, I think you remember the incident when you went to Allahabad? On that auspicious occasion we were connected...(Jayatirtha's omission). There is a long story it will take time, but I had the opportunity of associating with Sridhar Maharaja for several years. Krishna and Prabhupada liked him to prepare me."

Note: This was spoken during at meeting at Sridhar's Math in 1973 at a time when Srila Prabhupada was introducing Sridhar to some of his disciples, possibly just before Sridhar was going to speak. So naturally any praise spoken at such a time is a matter of good etiquette only and can easily be understood as a friendly gesture. Still Dheera twisted the actual statements to make Sridhar look better. Of course Srila Prabhupada was always humble in the presence of his Godbrothers so this first paragraph does not mean much. Especially since he was directly speaking to Sridhar Maharaja. The transcript we are using is from a paper defending Sridhar Maharaja which we have been told was compiled by Jayatirtha. It is entitled: Srila Prabhupada and Sridhar Maharaja-17 pg..

2. Second paragraph, Dheera's version

"Sridhar Maharaja lived in my house for many years, so naturally we had very intimate talks. He has such high realizations of Krsna that one would faint to hear them. He was always my good advisor, and I took his advice very seriously because from the very beginning I knew that he was a pure devotee of Krsna. So I wanted to associate with him. Krsna and Prabhupada, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, like him to prepare me. Our relationship is very intimate.

Actual version: "Sridhar Maharaja lived in my house for a few years so naturally we had very intimate talks and he was my good advisor. I took his advices, instructions very seriously because from the very beginning I knew that he is a pure Vaishnava, a pure devotee and I wanted to associate with him and tried to help him also...our relationship is very intimate." (The omission is Jayatirtha's who also has a tendency to omit statements that don't look good for Sridhar Maharaja.)

Note: The statement about "his high realizations" we are told was spoken to Satsvarupa during a train ride. What Prabhupada meant is debatable. But, giving them the benefit of the doubt, if this were actually true, then why didn't Srila Prabhupada arrange for Sridhar's words to be put into books and published along with his own books? This would have been no problem at all. If his realizations are so high, and if he is actually pure, it would only make sense to do so. Prabhupada was always wanting to translate more books and if Sridhar could have helped him do so, then why wouldn't Prabhupada have asked him? This is just common sense.

There are many possible explanations as to why Srila Prabhupada would make such high praises and at other times severely condemn Sridhar Maharaja. One explanation is the fact that Srila Prabhupada was a humble Vaishnava and it is not the natural inclination of a humble Vaishnava to look for faults in others, what to speak of Godbrothers-unless it is painfully necessary. Another reason is that Srila Prabhupada wanted to keep as good a relations with his Godbrothers as possible so as to not hinder the mission in India. Sridhar had influence on the other Gaudiya Math members and Prabhupada knew this.

Then there is the possibility that those praises may have been true at one time. So many devotees execute sincere devotional service for awhile, and then later, along with getting power and/or knowledge, they become carried away and fall down. This is also a possibility. Prabhupada did not recommend anyone go to Sridhar's Math after the Mayapur temple was established. There are few if any recorded praises of Sridhar Maharaja after ISKCON was established in Mayapur, but there are many criticisms.

Another point in this paragraph is Dheera's playing up on the fact that Sridhar lived for many years in Srila Prabhupada's house. According to Chanakya Pandit, "The worst pain in this world is having to live in another man's house." The fact is, Srila Prabhupada was setting the example for us how to live an honest, Krsna conscious householder life before taking sannyasa. "Example is better than precept." His household life was an integral part of his setting the example for future generations. That is Lord Caitanya's instruction and Prabhupada, being the perfect representative of Lord Caitanya, perfectly set that example for us. Then later he set the perfect example in his sannyasa also. Sridhar Maharaja's living in Prabhupada's house is not a sign of superiority, it is a sign of dependency upon an extremely Krsna conscious and responsible family man.